The latest from a couple of not so old favorites

[Davey]

To my ears, he so totally outruns the rest of the field that he may as well be in his own category, competing against himself, because no one else is even in the same race, let alone on the same lap.

I've only got a couple listens so far, but I'm starting to like this one quite a bit. The guy never seems to repeat himself, so takes a while to catch up with each new record. My download is mastered way too loud with lots of distortion, so doesn't sound very good, kind of like the last one. Do you have the CD or vinyl? Does it sound OK?

[tentoze]

I've only got a couple listens so far, but I'm starting to like this one quite a bit. The guy never seems to repeat himself, so takes a while to catch up with each new record. My download is mastered way too loud with lots of distortion, so doesn't sound very good, kind of like the last one. Do you have the CD or vinyl? Does it sound OK?

I have a 320 d/l'ed rip that's a little dodgy, and the cd, which might be a bit hot, but not objectionably so, at least to my ears.

[Slosh]

My download is mastered way too loud with lots of distortion, so doesn't sound very good, kind of like the last one.

What you have sounds exactly like the CD. Don't have the vinyl but I doubt it's much better. Don't think they'd use different masters.

It still amazes me that most artists don't seem to care what their albums sound like.

I recently put together a little one-hit wonder type comp where nearly all the songs were from the 70s or early 80s and virtually every track was better recorded than most new albums. Recording technology is better (and cheaper) than ever yet very few take advantage of it.

[Davey]

I have a 320 d/l'ed rip that's a little dodgy, and the cd, which might be a bit hot, but not objectionably so, at least to my ears.

What you have sounds exactly like the CD.

Thanks, that's kinda what I suspected. You barely have to turn the volume knob and it's already loud. Shame that some artists and engineers can't get out of this rut and start making CDs sound more musical and natural again (especially the indies). That latest Wovenhand isn't too bad loudness-wise, and the new Broken Social Scene is surprisingly good as well (though with John McEntire producing, I would've been surprised if it didn't have pretty decent sound). But the huge majority sounds like crap.

[Davey]

To my ears, he so totally outruns the rest of the field that he may as well be in his own category, competing against himself, because no one else is even in the same race, let alone on the same lap.

I've only got a couple listens so far, but I'm starting to like this one quite a bit. The guy never seems to repeat himself, so takes a while to catch up with each new record.

Gotta commend you on this one ol' buddy, you called it right. Turning into a big favorite, just makes me feel good. I know most people don't care, but so many albums with a lot of potential for me are hampered by forgettable lyrics (or worse, so bad they aren't forgettable) these days (ie, Arcade Fire could be much better with more thoughtful lyrics), nice to hear one that delivers all around. Still wish his records sounded better.

Wovenhand, Josh Ritter, Broken Social Scene, Phosphorescent, Nina Nastasia, some good ones this year for me.